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Taboo Tuesday (2005)
Taboo Tuesday (2005) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on November 1, 2005 at the iPayOne Center in San Diego, California. It was the second annual Taboo Tuesday event in which the fans were given the chance to vote on stipulations for the matches. The voting for the event started on October 24, 2005 and ended during the event. Eight professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card. The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before, during, and after the event were planned by WWE's script writers. The event starred wrestlers from the RAW brand: a storyline expansion of the promotion where employees are assigned to a wrestling brand under the WWE banner. The main event was a Triple Threat match, a standard match involving three wrestlers, for the WWE Championship. In this match, John Cena defeated Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels to retain his title. Two bouts were featured on the undercard. In a retrospective singles matches for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Ric Flair defeated Triple H in a Steel cage match, which is fought in a cage with four sheets of mesh metal around, in, or against the edges of the wrestling ring, in which Flair won by escaping the cage and having both feet touch the arena floor. The other featured an Interpromotional tag team match where Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy (SmackDown!) defeated Chris Masters and Snitsky (RAW). Taboo Tuesday received 174,000 pay-per-view buys, which was the same amount as the previous year's event. The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event 7 out of 10 stars, higher than the 2004 event rating of 5 out of 10 stars. Background Unlike other WWE pay-per-views, where stipulations were determined by WWE's creative staff, this was the second event where stipulations for matches were determined by votes from WWE fans conducted on WWE's official website. The event was scheduled to feature eight professional wrestling matches. Although the stipulations resulted from votes by WWE fans, different wrestlers were involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines, which led to scheduled matches in which WWE fans could vote upon stipulations. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of tension-building events. All wrestlers belonged to the RAW brand – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a different program, the other being SmackDown!. The main event scripted into Taboo Tuesday was between John Cena and Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship, in which Cena would also defend the title against the fans' choice of three possible opponents: Kane, The Big Show, and Shawn Michaels. The buildup to the match began at Unforgiven, RAW's previous pay-per-view event, in which Cena intentionally disqualified himself. In WWE, a championship cannot change hands via count-out or disqualification, as a result, Cena retained the title. On the October 17 episode of RAW, one of WWE's primary television programs, General Manager Eric Bischoff, a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, announced that a standard match involving three wrestlers, termed as a Triple Threat match, for the WWE Championship, would take place between Cena, Angle and the fans' choice at Taboo Tuesday. Bischoff was scripted to promote three series of qualifying matches, in which the winner would receive a spot on the ballot as a potential challenger to Cena and Angle. The winners were Kane, The Big Show, and Shawn Michaels. The following week, a Triple Threat match was scheduled between the three competitors. Michaels won the match after he hit both Big Show and Kane with a superkick and pinned the Big Show for the win. The following week, Bischoff announced a singles match between Cena and Michaels. Late in the match, Angle attacked both Cena and Michaels. Cena, however, retaliated and lifted Angle up on his shoulders, but Michaels managed to hit Cena with a superkick. One of the featured preliminary matches was between Ric Flair versus Triple H for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. On the October 3 episode of RAW, WWE Homecoming, Triple H returned after a four month hiatus. He took part in a match, teaming up with Flair, who was a fan favorite during Triple H's absence, to take on Chris Masters and Carlito. The duo defeated Masters and Carlito; after the match, Triple H turned on Flair and hit him with a sledgehammer. The following week, Triple H explained his actions, saying he saw that Flair had become mediocre when he was spat at and when he won the Intercontinental title. Triple H continued to say that he needed to end Flair's career so his memories of Flair would not be tarnished. On the October 24 episode of RAW, a singles match was scheduled between Flair and Triple H at Taboo Tuesday, in which the fans would be given the opportunity to choose the type of match they compete in. The choice of the matches were a regular match, submission match, or a Steel Cage, a match where the ring is surrounded by walls of steel, for the Intercontinental title. Another preliminary match was between the RAW and SmackDown! brands. The feud began on the October 3 episode of RAW, in which WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wanted a match between SmackDown! wrestlers on the program. A match was scheduled, but before it got underway, Eric Bischoff announced that McMahon had left the arena, thus leaving himself in charge. Seeing SmackDown! as inferior, Bischoff stopped the match by turning off the lights and going to a commercial break. At the end of the broadcast, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long, led SmackDown! superstars to the ring, and they fought with Raw superstars. On the October 17 episode of RAW, John Bradshaw Layfield's (JBL) (SmackDown!) entrance music played during Edge's (RAW) match, the distraction caused Edge to lose the match. As part of the storyline, Edge and Chris Masters showed up to the SmackDown! program on the October 21 episode, in which they interfered in a match between JBL and Rey Mysterio, where they assaulted Mysterio. On the October 24 episode of RAW, a match was made between Edge and Masters, and two of five SmackDown! superstars chosen by the fans, and Mysterio attacked Edge from behind. The following week, Bischoff invited Mysterio to the RAW program to take the Master Lock Challenge, a challenge where the wrestler must break free from Masters' swinging full nelson submission hold, which he calls the Master Lock. Mysterio, however, attacked Masters instead, which caused Bischoff to call for other RAW superstars. Long called for SmackDown! superstars, and they fought until the RAW roster retreated. Event Before Taboo Tuesday aired live on pay-per-view, Kerwin White and Matt Striker defeated Shelton Benjamin and Val Venis in a tag team match taped for WWE Heat, one of WWE's secondary television programs. Preliminary matches The first televised match was a tag team match in which Edge and Chris Masters (representing RAW) faced off against Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy (representing SmackDown!). Before the match, it was revealed that Edge refused to wrestle, saying he did not care about representing Raw and choosing Snitsky as his replacement. Masters and Snitsky quickly gained the early advantage in the match, as they took the upper hand over Mysterio. Mysterio fought back with a tilt-a-whirl, a counter attack hold. Afterwards, Hardy and Snitsky were tagged in, leading to Hardy getting the advantage as he grabbed Snitsky by the side and drove Snitsky's head onto the wrestling mat. Back and forth action took place between both teams. The match ended when Mysterio performed the 619 on Masters, followed by Hardy grabbing Snitsky's head in a forward position and forcefully pulling it down over his shoulders. Mysterio pinned Masters and giving SmackDown! the win over RAW. The next match was another tag team match involving Rob Conway and Tyson Tomko versus Eugene and Jimmy Snuka, who won the fans' vote with 42%. The team of Conway and Tomko dominated Eugene in the early start of the match. Eugene, however, fought back by avoiding Tomko's attacks. Eugene tagged Snuka in and performed a series of chops to Conway's chest and headbutted him in the process. In retaliation, Tomko attacked Snuka from behind, but Eugene fought him off, as he extended his arm out and knocked him out of the ring and out of the match. Eugene performed a jawbreaker on Conway, which proceeded with Eugene to lift Conway by holding his back horizontally and slamming it down, termed as a side slam. Snuka covered Conway for the pinfall victory. After the match, Tomko attacked Snuka and Eugene until Jim Duggan and Kamala came down and fought off Tomko. The third match was between Carlito and Mankind, which was the gimmick chosen for Foley by the fans' vote with 52%. The match began with Carlito performing a dropkick on Mankind. Mankind, however, got the advantage over Carlito. Mid-way through the match, Mankind tried to use a steel chair on Carlito, but Carlito avoided getting hit, as he executed a drop toe-hold, sending Mankind to hit the steel steps. Mankind rose to his feet, which led Carlito to perform a standing dropkick, resulting in Mankind to hit the back of his head into the steel steps. Back in the ring, Mankind received the upper hand after he bended Carlito forward and hooked each arm behind Carlito's back, tucked his head under one of Mankind's arms, and then fell back to pull Carlito down flat on his face which caused Carlito to roll over. He then forced Carlito to submit with the Mandible claw and win the match. The voting results for John Cena and Kurt Angle's opponent for the WWE Championship were then revealed, with Shawn Michaels winning. Big Show and Kane, who were also contenders for the WWE title match, faced the World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch for the World Tag Team Championship. The match began with Big Show and Kanedominating Cade and Murdoch early on. Cade and Murdoch fought back after Murdoch shoved Kane off the top turnbuckle. They performed a running chop block combination on Kane and taking the upper hand. The Big Show, who was tagged in, stood at 7 feet 0 inches (2.13 m) and weighed 500 pounds (230 kg), used his body size to his advantage as he squashed, or easily and quickly performed moves on, Cade and Murdoch. The match concluded after Big Show and Kane grabbed and lifted Cade by the throat and slammed him down into the mat, a move called the chokeslam. This allowed the Big Show to pin Cade and become the new World Tag Team champions with Kane. After the match, Big Show and Kane double teamed Murdoch, as they performed a chokeslam. The next match was a Street Fight, a match without disqualifications and where scoring conditions can occur anywhere, between Jonathan Coachman and SmackDown! World Heavyweight Champion Batista. Goldust and Vader, were scripted to take part in the match, on behalf of Coachman. In the beginning of the match, Batista fought both Goldust and Vader, where they proceeded to beat him down in the corner. Batista, however, fought back with a series of shoulder block takedowns. Coachman, who stood on the outside, entered the ring, but did not last long, as Batista performed a clothesline on him. Batista attempted to perform a suplex on Vader, a move that consists of one wrestler picking up his opponent off the ground and then using a large portion of his or her own body weight to drive the opponent down on the mat, but Goldust managed to hit Batista with a kendo stick. This allowed Coachman to receive the advantage over Batista. The match concluded after Batista performed a sitout powerbomb on Coachman, a move Batista calls the Batista Bomb, to gain the win. The sixth match was a Battle Royal, a multi-competitor match type in which wrestlers are eliminated until one is left and declared the winner, for the WWE Women's Championship between Ashley, Candice Michelle, Mickie James, Victoria, Maria and Trish Stratus, all of whom wore lingerie, which was voted by the fans' with 43%. In the match, James, as part of a storyline angle involving her being a devoted fan of Stratus, saved Stratus from being eliminated from the match, after Victoria tried eliminating her. Maria was tossed over the top rope by Stratus and James, thus being the first to be eliminated. Afterward, Michelle applied a submission move on Ashley on the top rope. Michelle turned around and was knocked off the ring apron by Ashley, making the second elimination of the match. Following the elimination of Michelle, Ashley was then eliminated by Victoria. The match concluded after Victoria hesitantly tried to eliminate Stratus, but James stopped her from doing so. James eliminated herself along with Victoria to allow Stratus to win and retain her Women's title. Main event matches The main match was a singles match between Ric Flair and Triple H. The match was a Steel Cage match, which gained 83% of the vote. During the match, Triple H sent Flair head-first into the steel cage, causing Flair to bleed from the head, the blood loss results from previous cuts that wrestlers perform before a match called blading. A spot in the match saw Triple H retrieve a steel chain in which he wrapped around his fist and attempted a diving fist drop from the top turnbuckle. Flair, however, countered as he raised his foot to hit Triple H in the face and performed a series of chops to Triple H's chest. Triple H controlled most of the match, until he attempted to apply the figure four leglock, a signature move of Flair's, which resulted in Flair sending him towards the steel cage. Flair followed this by biting the head of Triple H, resulting in him bleeding from his forehead, this often results when a wrestler is trapped, either in a corner of the ring or in a submission hold, as a desperation move. The match concluded after Flair reversed a move where Triple H would have tucked his head between his knees and jumped up to slam his head to the mat, with a back body drop and three chair shots to the head. This allowed Flair to escape through the steel cage door to win the match and thus retain his Intercontinental title. The main event was the WWE Championship match, in which John Cena defended the title against Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels, who received the fans' vote to be part of the Triple Threat match. During the beginning of the match, Cena performed a back body drop on Angle, sending him to outside. Michaels, who had been thrown out of the ring, received the upper hand over Cena until Angle returned to the match and performed a variety of suplexes on both Michaels and Cena. Mid-way in the match, Angle and Michaels double teamed Cena, lifting him in the air crashing face-first on the Spanish announce table. Back in the ring, Angle lifted Michaels on his shoulders and spinned 90° to slam him down to the mat, a move Angle calls the Angle Slam, from the top of the turnbuckles. Angle then tried to apply the ankle lock hold on Michaels, but Cena came into the ring and clotheslined Angle out of the ring. Cena proceeded by executing a back body drop on Michaels and attempting to perform a fist drop with theatrics, but was pulled out of the ring by Angle, who tossed him over the security barricade. The match concluded when Angle caught Cena in the ankle lock. Michaels, who was on the outside, climbed the top rope and drove his cocked elbow onto Angle's chest, who was lying on the mat holding onto Cena's ankle. Michaels performed a superkick, which saw the sole of his foot strike Angle's chin, a move in which Michaels calls Sweet Chin Music. Following this, Cena lifted Michaels over his shoulders and threw him down to execute the FU. Cena got the pinfall victory and thus retained his title. Aftermath Following Taboo Tuesday, the storyline between John Cena and Kurt Angle continued. A match was scheduled in which Cena would defend WWE Championship against Angle at November's pay-per-view event Survivor Series. In the scripted feud, Angle refused to compete in the November 7 episode of RAW due to the "you suck" chants from the audience. Angle finally agreed to compete that night when Eric Bischoff censored the crowd and let him have a special guest referee for his title rematch against Cena; Angle chose Daivari to be the guest referee. Before their scheduled rematch, Daivari's officiating was unfair and biased towards Angle's opponents. At Survivor Series, Cena went onto defeat Angle to retain his title. The storyline angle between Triple H and Ric Flair also continued at Survivor Series, where they were scheduled in a match the wrestler who was unable to respond to a ten count by the referee would lose. Triple H defeated Flair at Survivor Series after Flair was unable to respond to a ten count. The feud between the RAW and SmackDown! brands continued with Eric Bischoff and Theodore Long deciding on a 5-on-5 elimination match and a singles match between the two at Survivor Series. At Survivor Series, Team SmackDown! (Batista, Rey Mysterio, JBL, Bobby Lashley, and Randy Orton) defeated Team Raw (Shawn Michaels, Kane, The Big Show, Carlito, and Chris Masters) and Long defeated Bischoff. Reception The iPayOne Center usually can accommodate 14,000, but the capacity was reduced for the event. It also received 174,000 pay-per-view buys, which was the same amount as the previous year's Taboo Tuesday. The promotion's revenue was $18.8 million, which was greater than the previous year's revenue of $18.5 million. Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section rated the event 7 out of 10 stars. The rating was higher than last year's event in 2004, which was rated 5 out of 10 stars. The WWE title match was rated an 8 out of 10. Additionally, the Divas match was rated a 3 out of 10. The event was released on DVD on November 29, 2005. The DVD was distributed by the label Sony Music Entertainment. Results Divas battle royal entrances and eliminations Voting results Category:2005 in wrestling Category:Pay-Per-View Events Category:WWE Cyber Sunday Category:WWE for Extreme